Savings Bonds

MANAGING YOUR MONEY - MONEY WATCH

INVESTORS WHO are planning to buy U.S. savings bonds are likely to get a slightly higher yield if they invest by April 30.

On May 1, the Treasury Department makes its semiannual adjustment to the bonds' variable rate. And that rate is expected to drop from the 5.04 percent rate set last November.

The new rate is projected to be in the neighborhood of 4.77 percent, based on Treasury note yields over the past five and a half months.

Thus, savings bonds purchased by April 30 will earn an annualized rate of 5.04 percent over the next six months. If you wait until May to buy, the yield will likely be more than a quarter-point less.

If you hold the bonds at least five years, the variable rates can help push the yield above the guaranteed 4 percent rate on the bond. If you cash the bonds in earlier, your yield is fixed at 4 percent.

Buying by April 30 instead of waiting until May will also bring you an extra month's worth of interest. Even if you buy the bond on the last day of the month, you'll receive interest for the full month. But when buying at the last minute, make certain the bank will provide an April issue date for the bond.

AUDITS

TAXPAYERS WON'T have to worry about getting plucked for the most dreaded of IRS audits - the TCMP, which stands for Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program - for a while. An IRS spokesman said the agency doesn't plan to conduct any such audits this year or next year.

All taxpayers have reason to breathe a sigh of relief. While individuals are targeted for regular audits based on what they report, or fail to report, on their return, TCMP audit victims are picked at random. And unlike regular audits, where you get questioned only on certain suspect items on your return, the TCMP audit requires you to verify every single item on your return.

Results of the TCMP are used to develop the top-secret criteria for selecting returns for regular audits.

The TCMP has been conducted every three years, and one was scheduled for this year. But the IRS decided to postpone the TCMP until next year and scale back the program. The IRS planned to audit only about 25,000 returns, less than half the usual number, and to drop the requirement that auditors examine every line on a return.

But earlier this month, the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, issued a report critical of the IRS's downsizing plans. As a result, IRS spokesman Don Roberts said the agency has scrapped plans to scale back the program, but will postpone the TCMP scheduled for next year.

CREDIT

TOO MANY credit inquiries are red flag for lenders.

In evaluating loan applicants, lenders not only look at how much debt they're carrying, but how many times they've applied for credit in recent months. Each time you apply for credit - or someone checks your credit - a note is made on your credit report.

''Experience has shown there's often a correlation between the volume of credit inquiries and the financial stability of the individual,'' said Norman Magnuson, a spokesman for the Associated Credit Bureaus Inc., the trade group for the consumer credit industry.

Multiple credit inquiries make bankers wonder whether the loan applicant was turned down for credit by one lender after another, was in need of extra lines of credit to pay bills, or was preparing to take on new debt.

Shopping for a car can often lead to several credit inquiries on a credit report. When a customer starts negotiating terms with a car salesman, Magnuson says, the dealer frequently will order a copy of the person's credit report, often unbeknownst to the customer.

While numerous credit inquiries may not automatically cause your loan application to be rejected, you should explain them to the loan officer up front because questions about them are certain to arise later. Credit inquiries usually remain on credit reports for about six months, according to Magnuson.